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Petama Forum September 'The Desire for Knowledge- 1' from Hazrat Inayat Khan: 'The Purpose of Life' |
The desire for knowledge can be traced in all living beings, in the lower creation as well as in mankind. If we notice the movements of the birds and animals in the forest, we see that besides seeking for their food, playing with their mates, protecting themselves from their enemy, they are also interested in every sensation that comes to them through their five senses. Sound, color, touch, scent, every sensation has an effect upon them. We can trace in the animals the natural desire to know something, and it is this desire which in human evolution can be recognized as curiosity. From childhood this tendency seems predominant, and the more a child shows this tendency, the more promising the child is, because that shows that the soul part of the child is so much more to the fore. Among grown-up persons, what strikes us most in their personality is that brilliance of intelligence, apart from all their goodness and virtue. If this is such an important things in life, it must achieve a most important result. And what is that achievement? It is the knowledge of the ultimate truth, which fulfills the purpose of life. A curious soul begins by trying to know everything that it sees, that it comes in contact with. What it wants to know first is the name of an object, what it is called, what it is for, what it is, what it is used for, how to use it, how it is made, how to make the best of a thing, how to profit by it to the utmost. This knowledge is what we call learning. The different divisions of learning, called by different names, are the classification of this knowledge which we gain by study of the outside world. But life is so short and the field of this knowledge is so vast, that a person may go on and on studying. He may perhaps study one branch of knowledge, and he may find that even one life is not sufficient to be fully acquainted with that one particular branch of knowledge. And there is another person; he is not satisfied with only touching one branch of knowledge; he wants to touch many branches of knowledge. He may become acquainted, to a certain degree, with different aspects of knowledge. It may perhaps make him, if he reaches somewhere, what may be called an all-round man. Yet that is not the thing which will fulfil the purpose of his life. Farabi, the great Arabian scientist in ancient times, claimed that he knew many sides of knowledge; but when it came to showing his equipment in the knowledge of music, he proved to be lacking in the essential part, which was not the theory of music but the practice of music. Knowledge can be divided into two aspects: one aspect is the knowledge which we call learning; the other aspect is knowing. Learning comes from reason: 'It is so, because of this or that’; that is knowledge. But there is a knowing which cannot be explained by ‘because’; it can only be said that it is so; it cannot be anything else. If anyone strikes my heart, it does not break, but it bursts, and the flame coming out of it becomes a torch on my path.
Gayan - Chalas (these E-book are free of all charge - use their treasures well!) |
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